Ground Hop

A Great Day for Real Haynes

A crowd of 196 people attended the special Bedfordshire County League ground-hop game last weekend

A great day for Real Haynes as 196 were in attendance to see them win against Blunham.

Gary Sales was instrumental in the organisation around this fixture whereby Real Haynes raised funds for Bladder Cancer UK (charity partner for the groundhop game).

Gary description from the event:

'The day started in the morning at Real Haynes FC where the locals turned out in force alongside the groundhoppers to form a record league hop crowd of 196. This beat the previous record by 9 even though it was raining. 

For the home side it was a 7-0 romp to victory. Ali Bucknall opening the scoring in the 17th minute which was 3-0 by half-time following a brace of goals from Aaron Lumsdon in the 29th and 32nd minute. Goal number four arrived via Masum Ahmed seven minutes into the new half before on the hour mark Lumsdon saw his penalty kick saved by Blunham goalkeeper Dominic Higgins to deny him his hat-trick.

However, Lumsden had to wait just another 60 seconds to claim his hat-trick when firing home goal number five. An own goal from James Sheath made it 6-0 in the 72nd minute before Josh Pearson completed the scoring 12 minutes from time. Blunham keeper, Dom Higgins had a great game to ensure Haynes did not run into double figures, stopping at least 10 shots on target and saving a penalty from Haynes Lumsdon.

Real Haynes reserves topped off a great day by winning 4 v 1 in the afternoon against Bedford Albion.  They had their biggest crowd with 105 watching the afternoon match.  Real Haynes reserves were 3 nil up at half time with 2 great goals from Dale Walker. 

A 6 points Saturday for Real Haynes, a record broken and a very proud club.  Come on you Real Haynes.'


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Extract from the Cold End blog (view the full blog and photos HERE).

'A crowd of 196 people attended the special Bedfordshire County League ground-hop game yesterday morning as Real Haynes welcomed Blunham to the Haynes Village Playing Field for a Division Three supported by Hy-Pro fixture. Despite the wet weather people were good in spirits prior to the 10.30am kick off visiting the bar which was serving beer and breakfast along with the badge and programme stall doing good business.

Real Haynes were formed in 2018 by Gary Sales as part of his recovery from Bladder Cancer and their first team finished in fifth placed of Division Three last season with their reserves finishing in 15th place of the same division - They lost all 28 league games last season letting in 179 goals - this season it's been a better one for them with a first win a few weeks back 4-2 against Kempston Rovers and a second victory coming yesterday afternoon 4-1 against Bedford Albion 'A'. 

The village of Haynes has a rich footballing history with Haynes Village and Haynes Athletic with the former winning the league title in 1970 with just 13 players all of whom were from the village. 

The home side were much the better side against yesterday and won comfortably 7-0 with Aaron Lumsden scoring a hat-trick as well as missing a penalty which was well saved by Blunham keeper Dom Higgins. Blunham didn't give up and played their part in an entertaining game - they'll win a league game sooner rather than later I think. 

Most importantly lots of money was also raised for the Fight Bladder Cancer charity. 

The loss leaves Blunham on played five and lost five in league games which has included a 14-0 defeat at Stopsley United on Saturday 21st September but they did follow this up with a 17-2 victory in the Beds FA Junior Cup against Division Four side Revivalists on Saturday 28th September which has to go down as two of the most random results ever in football! 

They host MD&H Clapham Sports next Saturday before welcoming another Division Four side in White Eagles in the next round of the Beds Junior Cup. 

Real Haynes host Luton Allstars next weekend before a trip to Caddington in the Beds Junior Cup. 

The best of luck to both sides for the rest of the season!'

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